Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction 4 - 7 2018 | Page 164

Wallace woke up with a throbbing headache. He felt as though his head had been cracked open. Trying to
gain back his consciousness, he was relieved to find himself in the same cave in one piece, yet it puzzled him
that the stone engravings were missing, as if they had never been there. Rubbing his eyes bewilderingly, he
found himself wrapped in reddish-orange robes. To his great confusion, lying next to him in the cave were
three oddly-dressed men, whom Wallace wished would be able to clear his uncertainties. A moment later,
the first man to awake was the short-framed one. Without hesitation, he leapt to his feet to check if his
companions were alright. First to his left, the big-sized man with a beer belly tucked out; then to his right, a
tall, hunky man making slurping noises.
Once the three men were on their feet, they turned to Wallace with great concern and chorused, “Master,
are you feeling well?”
Disorientated, Wallace gaped at the men, until he managed to stutter out a few words. “W-who are y-
you?”
The short-framed man rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Haven’t I advised you to detour to save ourselves?
Yet you blindly accepted fate as it comes, and insisted on charging into the flames! And look at what it has
done to you!” Wallace fell silent, as he was attempting to figure out what exactly was going on.
The big-sized man added, “I agree with Houzi 1 on the detour. What’s the point of going through the
Flaming Mountains? Can’t we choose an easier route instead?” He turned and pointed at the hunky man.
“Wujing! Don’t you agree that we should’ve gone for the easy way?”
The hunky man addressed as “Wujing” turned to stare at his companions with, ironically, a pair of puppy
eyes. “I really have no idea. After all, I just follow wherever Master goes.” Listening to their conversation
and glancing at blank stone wall, Wallace wondered if the impossible had happened--that he had gone
back in time. Dazed, he tried to ask something, but it only came out in a whisper. “W-which year
of…Zhenguan is it?” “The seventh?” Houzi replied, with concern in his eyes. He motioned for Wallace (or
rather, “Master”) to sit down, before muttering, “I’ll try to find out where the flames came from.” The
moment he stepped out of the grotto, a wizened old man appeared, blocking the entrance to the grotto and
preventing Houzi’s departure. “You monkey! How dare you come back, to rub salt into my wounds? You
were the one who caused all this to happen: my banishment from the Heavens and ending up as a
Tudigong, a mere guardian of the earth, and the destruction of this area.”
Wallace, who was well-informed about Chinese literature, began to fill in the blanks. Being familiar with
“Journey to the West”, Wallace knew that a few centuries ago, Houzi had wreaked havoc upon the
Heavens. The events had not only lead to the near-destruction of the Heavens, but also affected many
locations among the mortal world. As for Tudigong’s banishment, Wallace knew that Houzi was innocent,
and he sympathized with Houzi for being trapped inside the Eight-Trigram Furnace for 49 days by
Taishang Laojun 2 . Houzi felt that he was wrongly accused. In a fit of frustration and anger, he used his
“somersault cloud” and reached the Heavens in a single leap. Wallace worried that Houzi would make a
huge fuss in the Heavens, and predicted that he would suffer from more unnecessary punishments.
However, as far as the strict rules of the Heavens are concerned, Wallace knew that he couldn’t enter as a
layperson. A seemingly feasible plan struck him all of a sudden. He wondered if Tudigong’s token of
command would grant him access to the Heavens. And once he placed his hands onto the token, he found
himself transported right before the golden gates of the Heavens.
The remaining followers were stunned by what had happened. Bajie’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates as
he muttered, “Wujing, do you think that was our master? The one who strictly complied with
Confucianism values? The same one who believed that rules were to be obeyed, and the same one who had
never challenged authority? And to think that he had just violated all of his beliefs!” Wujing simply
shrugged. “No way that Master isn’t our Master.” He paused for a while, then said with a look of
realization, “It must be the heat!” Bajie couldn’t help but roll his eyes.
In a split second, Wallace realized that he was standing right in front of the gigantic red double doors,
encrusted in layers of jade and crystal. Stunned by how glamorous the doors were, Wallace looked up to see
the words “Southern Gate of Heaven” inscribed across a plaque.
1
2
Houzi: “Monkey” in Chinese
Taishang Laojun: The Grand Supreme Elderly Lord